Trading Spinnaker Stock - Sold SKE on dip after high oil inventory report
- 3/18 How Much I Lost
- 3/17 Sold SYMC
- 3/16 Sold GM
- 3/15 Sold MU
- 3/14 Bought GM
- 3/11 Sold IOM
- 3/10 Bought MU
- 3/9 Bought SYMC
- 3/8 Bought IOM
- 3/7 Sold WDC and MU
- 3/4 Bought WDC
- 3/3 Sold ELN and CRNT
- 3/2 Sold RSH
- 3/1 Sold AMZN
- 2/28 Bought ELN
- 2/25 Sold ATI
- 2/24 Bought AMZN
- 2/23 Bought CRNT
- 2/22 Bought ATYT
- 2/18 Bought AMD
- 2/17 Bought RSH
- 2/16 Sold SKE
- 2/15 Bought SKE
- 2/14 Bought MU
- Hardware Stocks
- Software Stocks
- Israeli Stocks
Copyright 2005 by Morris Rosenthal
All Rights Reserved
My trade for the day came in the morning when I dumped the 100 shares of Spinnaker Exploration (SKE) I'd bought the day before at $34.31. I sold at $34.96, seconds after the oil inventories were reported as being higher than expected, which cost me around a dime. I had already filled out the sell order, didn't realize the inventory report was pending, it was sheer chance. The 10 cents I "lost" by being a second late would have covered the round-trip trading cost of $10 on the 100 shares. Turned out to be a dip and two minutes later I could have gottent 20 cents more. In the background, Alan Greenspan just said, "People who enjoy long periods of stability are prone to excess." No kidding.
So, I purchased 100 shares of SKE yesterday for $3431.00 and sold them today for $3496.00, for a gross gain of $65, and a net of $55 after the trading costs. That's about a 2% profit in 24 hours, or about what the bank is currently paying me a year to use my money in CD's and Money Markets. Unfortunately, the oil related stock rallied throughout the day, and SKE closed at $36.29, or $1.35 higher than I sold it! So, I netted $55 but lost $135 on paper.
Part of the reason for the quick pop in SKE may have been an explosion in Iran before the market opened this morning. Oil furures immediately rose on the speculation it could have been a terrorist attack, but the Iranians claimed it was caused by a fuel tank falling from an aircraft or something like that.
| Symbol/Index | # Shares or Cash | Purchase Price | Today's Change | Current Price | Current Value |
| MU | 500 | $11.54 | -0.12 | $11.80 | $5900 |
| Portfolio1 | $19,285 | N/A | -$5.00 | N/A | $25,185 |
| Dow Jones (DIA) | 230.251 | $108.45 | -0.02 | $108.45 | $25,000 |
| S&P 500 (SPY) | 206.254 | $121.21 | +0.08 | $121.21 | $25,000 |
| Nasdaq (QQQQ) | 658.241 | $37.98 | -0.14 | $37.98 | $25,000 |
1Portfolio balance is after all trading costs in SEP brokerage account with BrownCo
I used the closing prices of the tracking shares for the Dow Jones (DIA), Standard and Poors (SPY) and NASDAQ 100 (QQQQ) to establish benchmarks for comparing our portfolio with the indices.